1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to inserting machines and, more particularly, pertains to an inserting machine capable of making an intelligent selection of enclosures based on postage and application specific requirements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Multistation insertion machines are widely utilized for mailing applications wherein a plurality of different types of enclosures, such as advertising enclosures or enclosures of general or limited interest, are to be included with a customer's monthly statement. Examples of such applications are monthly statements mailed by utilities, credit card companies, and banking or other financial institutions. Included, typically, with the statement are one or more enclosures, or inserts, which may convey a message to the companies customers, such as an offer of additional services, or of a change in company policy, or advertisements provided by third parties for inclusion within the companies monthly mailing.
Illustrative of such inserting machines are a U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,429, issued Jan. 27, 1976 to George N. Branecky and Gary R. Sochrim, and a U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,181, issued Mar. 7, 1978 to Leslie K. Asher, Charles E. Gibson, and Frank T. Roetter, each of the aforementioned Patents being assigned to the assignee of the present Application. Also illustrative of such an inserting machine is a copending application Ser. No.: 861,686, Filed: May 9, 1986, Titled: DOCUMENT COLLATING AND INSERTING SYSTEM HAVING DISPLAYS FOR DOCUMENT COUNT VERIFICATION, to Harry Luperti and Robert Irvine.
Although well suited for their intended applications, these and other known insertion machines of the prior art perform their insertion function in accordance with a scheme which is fixed for each piece of mail processed. That is, in addition to the required statement and other required documents which must be inserted, such as paid bank checks, these machines insert either a fixed or a prespecified number of enclosures.
In such a fixed insertion machine, a plurality of insert feeders disposed along a document insertion track are activated for each machine cycle, thereby feeding an enclosure for each piece of mail processed. Other types of machines are operable for reading an indicia provided on a control document, the indicia specifying, among other information, which of a plurality of inserts are to be fed for inclusion with the associated statement.
As many be appreciated, such systems do not provide a means for optimizing the number or type of included enclosures as to such criteria as weight, and hence postage cost, and other factors. Inasmuch as the reduction of postal mailing costs is often an important goal of the users of insertion systems, the systems of the prior art may not be suitable for such applications where the optimization of enclosure selection and reduced postal mailing costs are important goals.
In an attempt to achieve this goal of reducing postal costs, it has been known in the prior art to provide an inserting machine wherein the per item weight of the inserts held at a plurality of feeding stations is stored in a data processing memory. A processing means, using the stored per item weights, thereby calculates a total weight based on the number of inserts selectively fed from the feeding stations. This calculated weight is then utilized to determine which one of a plurality of postage meters, each being set to apply postage relating to a different weight category, will be subsequently activated to apply postage to the envelope. Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,925, issued on Feb. 25, 1986 to Jerryl Adams.
A problem may, however, be created in the use of such a system in that the per item weight entered for a particular insert may be an average weight for such an insert. As is well known, there is associated with the individual members of any group of similar items, such as advertising inserts of bank checks, a range of weights depending on the tolerances associated with the physical characteristics of these items. Differences in dimensions or the type of paper stock utilized, which differences may vary from lot to lot, will affect the actual weight of each item. In addition, environmental factors such as humidity will affect the weight of a document. Thus, the per item weight entered may be an average weight and may not reflect the actual weight to the item, thereby resulting in the calculated weight being in error. Such an error may result in the application of an excessive amount of postage to some envelopes or an insufficient amount of postage to others. In the case of the application of insufficient postage, additional costs may be incurred in reprocessing such mail in order to apply the correct postage amount.
Furthermore, the use of such a system does not address the significant problems of optimizing the number of the included inserts in order to achieve the full benefit of the postage category into which the envelope falls. Neither does such a system address the problem of the selection of enclosures for insertion based on criteria other than weight.
It has been known in the past to provide apparatus to optimize the final weight of a plurality of items such that the final weight is substantially equal to a desired final weight. However, such apparatus generally do not take into consideration any criteria except weight. For example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,179, issued Jan. 31, 1984 to C. Wane Jordan and John W. Walker, there is disclosed a device for filling a package with a predetermined weight of items, such as pieces of chicken. The device, under the control of a computer, determines which of several pieces of chicken held in a plurality of holding bins should be added to a partially filled package of chicken in order to bring the final weight of that package up to the predetermined final weight. In order to determine which one or ones of the pieces of chicken should be added, each holding bin is provided with a weighing means to determine the individual weight of each such piece of chicken so held. Thus, the piece or pieces which will most closely approach the desired final weight are selected for inclusion within the package.
Other U.S. Patents which describe means to arrive at a predetermined final weight when packaging items, such as cookies or bacon, are Nos. 4,545,179, 4,209,960, 4,141,442, 4,136,504, and 4,065,911.
In these U.S. Patents set forth above the sole criteria for including an item within the package is item weight, the individual items being, in general, of a fungible nature.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an insertion machine capable of intelligent selection of one or more enclosures from a plurality of various enclosure types. The selection being based on postage and other application specific requirements, such as the significance or priority of an enclosure relative to a particular customer.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an insertion machine capable of intelligent selection of one or more enclosures for insertion within an envelope whereby the total, final weight of the mailpiece is optimized to realize the full value of a postage category.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an insertion machine which utilizes the maximum weight tolerance for each enclosure in order to calculate a true total weight for a mail piece.